Published: October 14, 2008 11:54 pm         

Herd’s Humphrey out 4-6 weeks with foot injury

HUNTINGTON — Marshall received some good news and some bad news Thursday.

The good news is the Thundering Herd has been picked sixth in the Conference USA preseason poll as selected by the league’s 12 head coaches.

The bad news is, they may have to play the season opener without their senior leader.

Guard/forward Markel Humphrey has developed a stress fracture in his left foot and will be out four to six weeks, coach Donnie Jones announced Tuesday.

Humphrey, who played the majority of last season with a stress fracture in his right heel that forced him to miss three games, will not play in the Herd’s exhibition game Saturday, Nov. 1, versus Wheeling Jesuit but has a chance to return for Marshall’s season opener Sunday, Nov. 16, at home against WVU Tech in the Glenn Wilkes Classic.

The injury will not require surgery, but Humphrey will be forced to wear a protective boot.

Humphrey also suffered a broken wrist over the summer.

“We’re fortunate to be able to identify this small stress fracture early,” Jones said. “Even with his limited ability at this point, we plan on keeping Markel in tune with his teammates in order to get him prepared for the start of the season.”

Humphrey, an Atlanta native, was held out of festivities at last Saturday’s Thundering Herd Madness.

Humphrey averaged 13.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a junior in 2007-08. He became the 44th player in Marshall history to record 1,000 career points.

When Humphrey does return, he will rejoin what many people are calling the most talented Herd team in several years.

League coaches seem to recognize that. The sixth-place selection is three higher than last year.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to compete this season in Conference USA,” Jones said. “I think this is the best C-USA has been since the league was realigned (in 2005).

“There is a lot of parity in the league this season and we appreciate the coaches giving us respect enough to be picked in the top half of the conference.”

Memphis, which lost in overtime in Kansas in the NCAA championship game in April, was the unanimous choice as preseason favorite. UAB was second, Tulsa third, UTEP fourth and Southern Miss fifth.

C-USA will host its men’s and women’s basketball media day Thursday in Memphis, both of which can be seen online at conferenceusa.com and on the CBS College Sports Network.